An automatic sewing machine has a work table and a fabric feed for displacing a workpiece to be sewn in a predetermined forward longitudinal direction through a sewing station on the table. It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,066,027 to guide and tension the fabric workpiece by attaching to its trailing end a clip carried on a carriage that can move along a straight rail. This rail in turn is pivoted at its end closer to the sewing station an upright axis, so that the rail can be aimed to feed the goods at the desired angle to the needle. Normally about 10.degree. of angular mobility is needed for the necessary adjustment to compensate for different needle styles and seam types.
The carriage is provided with biasing means for urging it and its clip longitudinally backward to keep the goods tensioned. It is standard to provide two such rails immediately adjacent each other, each with a respective clip carriage, so that one workpiece can be taken out and another loaded in on one carriage while the workpiece of the other carriage is being sewn.
This machine takes over two of the functions of a machine operator, that of holding together the layers of goods at the trailing end, and that of maintaining some tension on the goods to make a flat seam. The function of moving the goods transversely for a nonstraight seam is not and cannot be fulfilled by the known devices, which only serve for the automatic sewing of straight seams.